I am
Director of Music at Soham Village College, Cambridgeshire. I decided to create a music website
in the summer after my first year of teaching, July-August 2000, to be
used by teachers and pupils for several reasons. Finding good music
resources and links on the web can be a troublesome task. My site
allows you instant access to some worksheets I have created and used
effectively. It also allows pupils to research extra information and
revise class work without taking away valuable worksheets.

There is a long standing controversy behind
the place of music in school education. None-the-less, the
establishment of universal education in England during the mid nineteenth
century allows music to be seen differently. Music changed from being
a relaxation subject to one with more status. John Paynter wrote,
"It was seen as a means for the teacher to enter the pupil's minds more
easily than might be able through literature."

Music was beginning to be seen as a valued
subject that could contribute to the all round education that a child needs.
If one was to refer to 1931 and the publication of the Hadow Report (Board
of Education, 1931), it is evident that the place of music in education was
being discussed very seriously:

"The educative value of music has often
been overlooked in the past. It has been sometimes mistakenly regarded
as a soft relaxation...... If taught on sound lines it should react
upon the whole work of a school. In no subject is concentration more
necessary; in no subject is there so much scope for the disciplined and
corporate expression of the emotions."

I believe music to be an intrinsic and
important part of every child's education.

Music allows
pupils to express and share feelings, thoughts and ideas throughpersonal experience of performing and composing.

Music is a form
of communication.

As music comes
from various cultures and societies it allows us to understand those
from different parts of the world through non-verbal communication.
Thus exploring moral and spiritual issues.

Music
participation contributes to the whole development of the child.
Through having fun with music, children are able to formulate listening
skills, express themselves, create intellectual and artistic skills and
group skills.